Overcoming the Anxiety of an AML Diagnosis

Overcoming the Anxiety of an AML Diagnosis

Overcoming the Anxiety of an AML Diagnosis from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Mayra Lee, a registered nurse, provides tools for coping with the anxiety and emotions that can follow an AML diagnosis.

Mayra Lee, RN, is an outpatient clinic nurse at Moffitt Cancer Center. More about the expert.

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Transcript:

When people are anxious about their diagnosis, I think the best thing to do is to keep an eye on the bigger picture. I know your life is going to change. We can’t even make plans more than one week ahead of time. So, it’s important to keep an eye on the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is this is a steppingstone in your journey. This is a place, a situation, that you’re placed in that you’re having to undergo. But overall, you have a life outside of AML. You’ve had a life outside of AML. And keeping that bigger picture in the back of your head is very important. It’s very sane. You had a life. You enjoyed things before. You enjoyed going to the movies. You enjoy having dinners with your friends. You enjoy reading books. And so, it’s very healthy to continue to do those things and not get so consumed by the AML diagnosis and what is going on.

It will affect your life and it’s very important to keep doing what you’re doing. If you exercise, continue exercising. If you enjoy going to the movies, continue going to the movies with the expectation that you may not do that all of the time as you did before but you, certainly, can continue to do that because it keeps your head clear. It keeps you human because so much of AML takes away from you and you feel like you’re this thing, you’re this number. You’re the medical record number. You are Mr. so and so or you are a diagnosis. You are an AML diagnosis.  It keeps you human to keep an eye on the bigger picture.